Sara's Day Out
by Chadini
Summary: Sara is back and Wendy wants to plan a teambuilding activity inspired by a movie. Prompt was the movie Poltergeist. Spoilers through Season 8. Wedges and GSR. Thanks to jungle mag for the beta. FLUFFY. You have been warned. Chapter 3 up. Complete.
1. Sara's Day

Hodges stared down into the microscope, frozen stiff in abject horror by Wendy's suggestion. He was fighting to keep his lunch of a tuna salad sandwich from swimming its way back up.

"So – what do you think?" Wendy nudged Hodges, "We have to do something, right?"

"No, actually, I think we need to do nothing – not do anything, whatever, you know what I mean" Hodges stammered. "Listen Lucy," Hodges started in his best Ricky Ricardo voice, "this is one of those situations that will result in disaster no matter how much effort or thought goes into your plan. Trust me, I know what I am talking about here – everyone will be better off if we just let them be."

Wendy's mood sank to the floor. Sara and Grissom were not exactly the most open couple but this would go in the books as a bad year, not just for them as a couple, but for the whole staff, "in case you haven't noticed, things have been pretty awful around here."

Hodges nodded. There wasn't much else he could do, because she was right. He followed her eyes out into the corridor, watching people move through the halls in a daze. There was no joking around, no side bets about who could close a case the quickest or who was right on a wild theory. People came in, did their job and left. Between Sara's abduction, her abrupt departure and then Warrick, working with Doc Robbins in the morgue would be preferable. The crew was on edge and snappy. To call the workplace challenging would be a gross understatement.

Wendy leaned in closer to Hodges, so he was the only one that could hear her, "we have to do something to get everyone back together. Having a girl's night out and sleep over would be fun. It worked in the movie…"

"What movie?"

"_Sex and the City._"

Tilting his head up and cocking an eyebrow, Hodges couldn't believe she was serious. "Are you honestly comparing Sara Sidle to Carrie Bradshaw? And didn't the wedding end badly?"

"No, but duly noted that you know who Carrie Bradshaw is, and they eventually got married in front of their friends. I think it would be fun if all of the girls got together before she got married."

"Whoa, wait. They're getting married?"

"Who knows, for all we know they probably already are, but the point is, it would be great to get the team together and then you can arrange a guys night for Grissom…"

Blinking, Hodges wondered how things went from bad to really bad so fast.

"What? Like you wouldn't jump at the chance to do this for Grissom," Wendy taunted as she bumped him with her shoulder. "Unless of course you would rather that I ask Nick or maybe Greg. I'll bet that Greg would love to plan something."

"No! I mean no, I'll take care of things, and Sanders would only screw things up with some juvenile frat party. If anyone is going to plan Grissom's guys night, it should be me."

--

Grissom wasn't sure what he could say to convince Sara to go along with Wendy's plan. He knew she would hate it, but he had to at least try. "Honey, it'll be fun."

"Uh huh. The same way that a root canal would be fun," Sara countered.

He shook his head and watched her pack her things into his duffle bag, like a little girl that didn't want to go to the nerdy kid's birthday party. "They're just trying to be nice."

"Nice would be a gift certificate or dinner. This is not nice." Sara stopped packing and just looked down at the contents of the duffle. "Gil, I don't even know what to take – what to wear. I…I haven't been to one of these things."

Grissom felt his heart clench tight in his chest. This is one of those events that you take for granted that every kid has experienced. He went to his share of sleepovers as a boy, but he was confident that his encounters were not the same for Sara as a little girl. This was one situation that he couldn't help her with. It killed him that the real reason she didn't want to do this was because she was nervous.

He walked over and took her in his arms. That was all she needed to tear up. Bring his head into his neck, he could feel her warm tears. "Honey, hey, look at me –" Sara looked expectantly up to him, hoping for some solution that would allow her to stay at home and curl up in bed with him. "They're your friends, our friends, and they love you. They've missed you and they really want to do this for you. They think it will be fun."

"No, this is because Wendy saw that damn _Sex and the City_ movie."

"True, but at least you don't have to spend the evening with Hodges halfway up your ass," Grissom said with a grin.

Having lightened the mood considerably, he asked, "So, when are they coming to get you?"

"Soon, probably another five minutes or so," Sara said as she checked her watch. "I think I will be fine as long as she doesn't have some scary movie marathon planned. I always hated that little girl from Poltergeist," Sara said with a small shudder.

While Sara finished packing, she heard a knock at the door, followed by Hank's barking.

"They're heeeeere," Grissom announced, as he went to the door earning him a scoff by Sara for his effort.

As he opened the door, he couldn't help but wonder who was going to have the more interesting night out.

* * *

Thanks for reading...more to come!


	2. Chapter 2

Catherine walked up to the front door of the Grissom house, unsure of what to expect. She had volunteered for the difficult task of wrangling Sara Sidle into her car and delivering her to Wendy's Girl's Night Out Extravaganza. Raising her hand to knock on the door, she chuckled, remembering the collective sigh of relief in the break room when she agreed to be the one to pick up Sara.

Sara had been behaving like Lindsey when she is trying to get out of doing her homework. Sara tried every excuse she could think of to avoid the party. But, thanks to Grissom's convincing, she finally relented and agreed to it all. Why anyone would avoid a party in their honor was lost on Catherine, but to each their own she supposed.

Before she could physically knock on the door, it flung open to a grinning Grissom and a sick looking Sara. "She's almost ready," he beamed. Stepping into the townhouse, Catherine couldn't help but notice the difference in her friends. When they are together, the happiness rolls off of them.

What surprised Catherine the most was the harmony in which Sara and Grissom seemed to live. In his old townhouse, it was sterile and white and cold. Now there are warm tones that reflect what Sara has brought into his life. Her apartment was always dark and heavy. The new warmth seemed to be a reflection of the inhabitants. She couldn't help but to let her eyes and mind wander as she looked around. It has been years since she had been to his house, not counting the time a few months ago when she stopped by when he had the flu and Sara was still in San Francisco. It was still a challenge for Catherine imagining her colleagues as lovers.

Breaking her away from her thoughts, Hank interrupted and began to sniff at Catherine and gently nudge her, hopping for a petting. Sensing her apprehension with the whole idea Catherine looked at her socially challenged colleague and decided that it was now or never. "You ready?" Catherine asked looking at Sara. Sara's response was to look up at Grissom and nod. "Is that all you are bringing?" She asked looking down what was obviously Grissom's small duffle. Sara looked back at Catherine, frozen like she was just called up in front of the class to give a report on a book she never read.

"Uh, Sara, it's ok, I'm just kidding. Let's go."

Sara seeing an opportunity to delay her departure all the more, "Wait do I need a sleeping bag or something?"

"No, Wendy has everything covered, and we have a suite at the Wynn, so we're good. Unless, of course, you want to bring your own pillow."

Sara had been so concerned about the actual event; she didn't have time to worry about her pillow. Her head filled with all of the reasons why you would want to use your own pillow instead of the hotel's. Every hotel crime scene in a hotel flashed through her mind like a bad movie. "I think I do," Sara croaked out as she ran up the stairs, with Hank hot on her heels, leaving Gil and Catherine alone in her wake.

A moment of uncomfortable awkwardness settled between the old friends. Gil started to speak, ready to say something to make matters more awkward. Catherine just raised her hand up to stop whatever ill-advised comment was ready to come tumbling out. "Gil, this is still weird for all of us, so let's not make it anymore so. Let's not over-analyze it – you, my friend, have to ready yourself for quality babysitting time with the boys. You do realize Hodges was in charge of all of this right? His version of a boy's night out."

"I know," he sighed, with an added eye roll for extra effect, "trust me, I know."

"You know Catherine, you don't have to drive me, and I can just meet you there," Sara offered as she came back into the room, with her pillow tucked protectively under her arm..

"Oh no you don't. Wendy planned for every contingency - one of which was you escaping. Why do you think they sent me?" Catherine threw in with a wink.

"You volunteered so you could snoop around," Grissom shot back. Sara grinned, knowing that Grissom nailed that one on the head. Catherine most likely volunteered for the job just to see them in their native habitat.

In a self-conscious moment, Sara felt 16 again – should she kiss Grissom or not?

After all of the years of sideways glances and fleeting touches in public, it was bizarre to have their relationship out in the open in front of their co-workers – their friends. She never had the chance to tell anyone about their relationship - on her terms, on her time.

Sara and Grissom would occasionally discuss opening their relationship to the world, tired of almost getting caught and ducking around corners. They would discuss ways to break the news, but in the end, it always came back to it being about them. It was their relationship, for their consumption, not the lab's.

What bothered Sara the most was that she never saw the looks on their faces when the team heard the news – shock, horror, happiness? Did they laugh? Cry? Did any money slide across the table from a long ago bet?

When they came to see her in the hospital, the relationship was the elephant sitting in the middle of the room that they had to climb around. When she left Las Vegas, not that it really mattered at the time, she wondered if they took sides. Did anyone tell Grissom to go after her or did they say that he was better off without her? Grissom reassured her that everyone was "supportive" in their nightly calls, but who knows what that really means?

With her bag in her hand, Sara leaned down to pat Hank on the head, stalling for as long as she could. She was an adult after all and she didn't have to do anything that she didn't want to do.

Sara's internal debate was cut short by Grissom pulling her up for a quick kiss, punctuated by a playful smack on the ass, all to get her out of the house.

"You girls have fun," he said as he shoved the women out the door.

Once in the car, Sara stared out blankly into their neighborhood, watching the houses crawl by.

"Sara," Catherine nudged, "it's not the end of the world that your friends want to hang out with you." She viewed her younger colleague with more patience than she had in the years that they have worked together. Sara had been through more over the course of a few months than most people could endure over a lifetime.

"You're not going to an execution you know, look if it ends up being a disaster, I can be your out and we can go and get a drink or something," Catherine said, trying to keep an eye on the road and gauge Sara to see if she understood what she was offering.

Sara raised an eyebrow questioning Catherine's plan, trying to figure out exactly what she was talking about.

"I thought that you might feel this way about things, so I already laid the groundwork that Lindsey isn't feeling well, and since I would have to go home, that would make you the next…"

Sara smiled shyly, as she figured out what Catherine meant, "On call."

"Exactly, but there is very little chance that either of us will be called in with Ronnie chomping at the bit for extra hours."

Sara sunk comfortably into her seat, relaxing for the first time that all of this started, her panic starting to subside; maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

* * *

"A strip club? Really? This is Gil Grissom we are talking about, not some frat boy on spring break," Hodges grumbled to Greg. Their planning for Grissom's big night was not going well at all.

"C'mon, Gris would love it," Greg said as he leaned back in his chair.

"I don't think _Gris_ would love it," Hodges barked.

"Ok, so what is your big idea?" Greg countered, calling Hodges bluff.

"I still vote paintball," Nick chimed in as he walked into the break room. "It's a great thing for guys to do and bond together, besides, if anyone hit Grissom, it would be a two-fer." Nick said with a sly grin.

Henry looked at his lunch trying to figure out what Nick was talking about. "What's a toofer?" he asked to anyone that was listening.

"I think Nick is implying that Hodges is so far up Grissom's ass that if you hit one, you hit both," Archie said matter of factly, which caused a chain reaction of chortles and full blown laughter from everyone within earshot.

"Oh, real funny," Hodges huffed. "I'm just trying to do something nice for our boss, our friend and all you guys can do is tear everything down. In case you haven't noticed, this has been a tough year for everyone and I, we, thought it would be refreshing for everyone to come together as a team," Hodges finished, clearly upset with the way things were going.

"Hodges, we're just kidding. Look, maybe we can all go out to a nice dinner, and then go from there – I know a guy at CraftSteak that can get us in," Greg offered, looking up to the others for help.

"Yeah, that is a great idea. We can call Brass and all of the other guys and meet out for steaks, and maybe drinks and cigars or something after," Nick helpfully added.

"Ok then. Greg, you make the reservations and we're on for 7," Hodges happily said, clearly proud of himself.

_This was going to be the best night ever._

tbc...


	3. Chapter 3

Every component of the meal at CraftSteak had been fantastic. When Hodges had

originally presented the idea of a "Guys Night Out," to Grissom, he

immediately declined. But after seeing how excited they all were to get

together, he couldn't resist. The conversations between the men had flowed

comfortably. These men were Grissom's friends - his family. Grissom enjoyed

– more than he would ever admit – the interaction between the team.

Listening to their stories, he found it difficult to imagine a time without them

and what it will be without Warrick. It never failed to crack him up, in private

of course, to watch Greg and Hodges fight for his attention like two brothers.

The current debate was raging hotly, between paintball (Nick), a cigar bar

(Hodges and Brass) and a strip club (Greg).

Before Brass could throw in more reasons to the conversation as to why the

cigar bar would be the best way to go, his cell vibrated loudly in his pocket.

He fished his cell phone out of his pocket to see that he had just received a

text message from Catherine.

_"How r things?"_

Damn texting Brass cursed to himself. It would be much

easier to call, but now people want to have entire conversations across a tiny

screen. It was challenging enough to hunt and peck on a computer keyboard, but

to try and figure out the letters on the tiny keypad on his phone was

excruciating.

_"ok there"_

Brass typed as he muttered to himself, wondering where in the

hell the question mark was on his phone.

"Need some help?" Greg asked, trying desperately not to laugh at the

Captain's situation.

"No, I got it," Brass informed the young man, waving him off with his hand for

good measure.

_"Disaster"_ came back the simple reply.

Brass chuckled. Sara lasted longer at the party than he thought she would.

Catherine, obviously impatient with Brass' lack of textual dexterity, sent him

another, before he had time to respond.

_"Tryst"_

Brass sputtered his drink out.

_"What"_ he typed quickly.

Catherine's response made a little more sense -

_"The club in the Wynn – 1 hour"_

* * *

Standing, memorized in the doorway of the suite at the Wynn, Sara looked back

at Catherine – who was beaming, clearly in her element. If anything, she

would always be Sam Braun's daughter and there was no way that Wendy could

have pulled all of this off on her own. Over the years, Sara and her co-workers

had been in a variety of incredibly opulent suites, with more amenities than you

could imagine, but never as a guest. Before Sara had much time to think about

anything else, she was tackle hugged by Wendy, who was excitedly announcing the

plans for the evening while showing them around the suite.

Like Grissom, Sara enjoyed the rare opportunity to see her colleagues out of

the lab and in real clothes - not just blue lab coats and latex gloves. Sara

looked around and looked at Jacqui and Mandy sitting at the bar, enjoying a

drink. Wendy followed Sara's eyes and said, "Judy wanted to be here, but

someone has to hold down the fort – let's get you a drink!" all the while

pulling Sara towards the bar.

Sara grimaced at the thought of Judy. Since she came back to Las Vegas, Judy

had not been able to look her in the eye. The rumor mill, otherwise known as

David Hodges, informed her that Judy feels responsible because she accepted the

miniatures, and even let Natalie in Grissom's office. She even went on break

a few times with Natalie. Judy thought that she could have stopped the

kidnapping, working with investigators everyday and she may have missed a clue.

Sara leaving her good bye letter for Grissom didn't help matters either. It

didn't take long for Judy to figure out what was in that note.

Walking through the room, Sara hugged everyone stiffly in an obligatory way,

although she was genuinely touched by all of their effort. Apart from when she

was a small child and maybe once in the dorm at Harvard, no one ever cared

enough to throw her a party.

She could feel her face get hot and her eyes well up with tears thinking about

it. Thinking about how much her life had changed for the better and how close

she came to losing it all.

"Oh God – is something wrong?" Wendy asked in a panic, noticing Sara's

state.

Catherine jumped in, with a hand on Sara's shoulder, "No, Sara's fine –

its just her allergies acting up."

Sara gratefully nodded and excused herself to the bathroom to pull herself

together. As soon as she shut the door, she leaned against it taking a deep

breath and reached for her cell phone on her hip. She dialed the number she

knew by heart and waited for him to answer.

"Hey honey," Grissom answered with a smile.

"Hey yourself," Sara started.

"Give me a minute, Greg and Hodges are debating between strip clubs and cigar

bars," Grissom said as he excused himself from the table.

When Sara heard nothing but Grissom breathing on the other end of the line, she

continued, "how are things going there?"

"Fine, but the better question is how is it for you?"

"Well, seeing as I'm calling you from the bathroom…" Sara answered

slightly embarrassed. She looked at herself in the mirror and wondered when it

would all end. When would she be able to forget about that night in the desert?

When she would be able to do something as simple as park her car in a garage

again without a panic attack?

_"Sara…"_

"I know, I know. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Well, here it is telling you to get out of the bathroom and enjoy your

party."

"You're a big help," Sara chuckled.

"That's what I'm here for," Grissom said. "and Sara, I love you."

"Love you too," Sara said and closed her phone. Just a few more hours of

this warm and fuzzy stuff and she will be back home curled up with Grissom. Or

even Hank would be welcomed.

Splashing some cold water on her face, Sara felt ready to go back out and

tackle Wendy's party and enjoy herself.

Sara opened the door to find Catherine standing there with two cosmopolitans,

one in each hand.

"I thought you could use a drink," she said, handing Sara one of the pink

concoctions. "There has been a little change of plans," Catherine continued

as Sara took a drink. "I think you may like this one a little better,"

Catherine said with a wink.

"Ok, everyone, time to move the party downstairs, " Catherine commanded.

While Sara had been in the bathroom, they decided that it would be a better idea

to invite the boys over to the club downstairs than to sit in their suite and

watch movies.

When the women arrived downstairs, their male counterparts were already sitting

in a roped off area, with drinks in their hands.

Sara immediately brightened when she saw Grissom stand up to greet her as they

walked over.

Once everyone got settled in their seats, Sara leaned over and whispered

something in Grissom's ear that only he could hear. He smiled and said,

"it's up to you dear."

"I need everyone's attention," Sara said as she clinked her glass. "We

have a little announcement," she said as she nudged Grissom. He nodded and

they both reached into their pockets and pulled out simple gold bands that they

placed on their fingers in front of the table.

"We're married!" Sara said excitedly as she grabbed Grissom's hand so

everyone could see their rings.

"Congratulations! A toast to the newlyweds!" Nick said as everyone stood to

toast and congratulate the couple.

* * *


End file.
